A BIZARRE combination of ballet and golf has got Charlie Flynn fighting fit for his TV debut as a professional boxer.
The 21-year-old Commonwealth gold medallist from Lanarkshire will make the second outing of his pro career on the undercard of Eddie Hearn's Geordie Roar show at Newcastle's Metro Arena against England's Andy Harris, just weeks after a back problem forced him to withdraw from a proposed Glasgow bout against Nigerian Ideh Ochuko. Flynn pays tribute to the work of movement expert Finlay Menzies - whose main work is with ballet dancers and golf professionals - not to mention a sneaky few rounds at Dalziel Golf Club for strengthening his atrophied back muscles, and hopes to flex them to impress in front of a UK-audience on Sky Sports.
"First I hurt my back then I was running and torn my groin," the fighter said. "So I literally could not do anything but I have been seeing Finlay Menzies for the last two or three weeks and he has sorted me right out. My back muscles are really small compared to the muscles on the front of the body, because I have been boxing since I was really small. I wouldn't have made the fight without him so he has been a Godsend. It was him who got in contact with my manager so we didn't know if he was just some random guy. I didn't have a clue what to expect but after the first session I knew he was going to sort me out."
Flynn played some golf when a kid, and after being given free membership for Dalziel Golf Club, he admits he could be tempted to dig out the plus fours on a more regular basis. "The other thing I did with the back guy is that he does a lot with golf, so we joined Dalziel Golf Club," he said. "My back is dead stiff, it doesn't move, so I got told to do golf to assist me on my back rotations. I played when I was younger, but I never got that good. I never got a handicap, I never understood how that works."
Flynn is part of a three-strong Scottish contingent on a bill for the show which has been forced into a fairly radical transformation. With proposed headliner Bradley Saunders forced to withdraw with a broken hand, Hearn has been quick to rack up a Commonwealth title shot for fellow home favourite Anthony Nelson of South Shields, and who should come in as the opposition but Dundonian Jamie Wilson, a man with just five previous fights under his belt. The hugely impressive Anthony Joshua also features as does Edinburgh's Stephen Simmons, who defends his WBC International Silver cruiserweight title against Jon-Lewis Dickinson. Flynn admits there is added pressure.
"It is my first Sky TV show and you never get a second chance to make a first impression," he said. "There is a bit of pressure there, this is the first time Eddie Hearn is going to be watching me, the first time the British public are going to be seeing me as a pro boxer so I am looking for a good performance and I know I am going to put on a good performance. Training and sparring has been going great. It is just about sharpening up and doing the damage on the night.
"I don't know much about my opponent, I have just seen some clips," added Flynn. "But he is orthodox, quite scrappy, but with quite clumsy feet. I have watched him and I know I will beat him. I have got a video of him and I just need to make sure I work his feet a lot, and his elbows are very wide so I will work his body. I will highlight all his bad points, and any things that he does well I will just try to nullify them."
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